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Turkish funding of Hamas military exposed by arrest - report

2018-02-13

Turkey gives cash to the military wing of Hamas via a person with close ties to senior Turkish officials, Mordechai Sones wrote in Israel National News.

The information was revealed in an investigation of a Turkish man, Cemil Tekeli, who was arrested on Jan. 1. The detention of Tekeli and another man, Dara’am Jabarin, by the Israel Security Agency (ISA) and police was revealed by the authorities on Monday, he said.

Turkey aids Hamas via companies including SADAT, established at the behest of Adnan Basha, who has the high-level Turkish connections, Sones said, citing the probe.

“The company was founded to assist, with funds and war materiel, the creation of the 'Palestine Army', the purpose of which is to fight Israel,” he said. “One of its employees even helped senior Hamas officials to visit a 2015 weapons show in Turkey, during which they expressed interest in UAVs.”

The Israeli police investigation revealed that in 2012, Tekeli was asked to help Hamas terrorists who had gone to Turkey to become personally and economically established. Hamas then conducted widespread money laundering activities in Turkey via another company, IMES, which was used to funnel cash to Gaza and various countries, he said.

Jabarin had visited Turkey frequently and was asked by his handlers to transfer funds from Turkey to Judea and Samaria. He was given hundreds of thousands of euros for Hamas's military infrastructure, which he hid in various secret locations. The Israeli security services found 91,000 euros in a search of his home, Sones said.